Peabody West Little League Spring 2017 Newsletter

Welcome to the Peabody West Little League Quarterly Newsletter; a publication for the PWLL community to share information and talk all things . The Newsletter is published quarterly and distributed via e-mail and on our Web site. If you have ideas for a story and/or would like to be a contributing author, please contact Public Relations/Fundraising Coordinator John Horgan at [email protected]. Thanks for reading!!!

Despite being postponed for about a month due to bad weather, PWLL’s Opening Day Jamboree was held on May 20th amidst bright sunshine, PWLL family, community leaders, and some new friends. As part of the Opening Day Jamboree, PWLL raised an American Flag over our AAA field in honor of Lt. Ross, after whom our fields are named. With a bagpiper playing, the new American Flag was carried out to the AAA flag pole by an Honor Guard arranged by Veteran’s Agent Steve Patten. As the flag was being raised by the Honor Guard, Kayli Kotchian sang the National Anthem. Once the new American Flag was proudly flying, the bagpiper resumed playing as the Honor Guard marched out. Mayor Ted Bettencourt, the key note speaker, then gave a wonderful speech about the importance of community spirit while fostering the youth of our city, and the role youth sports can play in that. Mayor Bettencourt was followed by Ward 6 Councilor Barry Sinewitz and Ward 5 Coun- cilor Joel Saslaw, who each gave thoughtful speeches with personal memories at Lt. Ross Park.

Next up was Mike Mannix, a member of the 35 Infantry Association who traveled from Western Massachusetts to be part of our flag raising ceremony and represent the 35th. Lt. Ross was killed in action at the age of 22 in Darlac Province, Vietnam on August 22, 1968, while serving as a Forward Observer with 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry, 4th Infantry Division; assigned to Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 9th Artillery. In an inspiring speech, Mr. Mannix drew a correlation between the type of man Lt. Ross was and being part of a baseball team, such as: backing up your teammates in the field, being brave when facing challenges at the plate, congratulating teammates when they succeed, and being there for them when they don’t. Lt. Ross possessed all of these qualities.

The American Flag raising ceremony was closed out by Shirley Howard, the sister of Lt. Ross. Ms. Howard spoke fondly of her brother and their growing up in West Peabody and how he chose to leave college and enlist in the Army to defend our freedom. Following the ceremony, Ms. Howard contacted PWLL and said her brother and parents would of been proud of the flag raising ceremony. Ms. Howard added the ceremony allowed her to re-connect with many of Lt. Ross’ childhood friends who came down to be part of the special event.

The new American Flag raised over the AAA field will fly along side the Major’s field American Flag that was flown over Ft. Sill in Oklahoma in February 2017 in honor of Lt. Ross and the AA Field American Flag, flown in February 2017 over Schofield Barracks in Hawaii, also in honor of Lt. Ross.

It was humbling to see our community leaders, veterans, private citizens, and our newly found friends join PWLL players and coaches to honor Lt. Ross, a true American hero. Going forward, PWLL plans to raise the AAA Field American Flag in honor of Lt. Ross each year as part of our Opening Day Jamboree. Please consider this an open invitation to join us each year!!!

The PWLL Board of Directors has created a new board position of Snack Shack Coordinator. The Snack Shack Coordinator will help:

 manage inventory  maintain volunteer worker schedule  work with the Treasurer to manage snack shack funds

If you are interested in joining the PWLL Board of Directors and becoming the Snack Shack Coordinator, please contact PWLL President, Jessica O'Hara at [email protected].

PWLL Night at Derby North Shore Navigators Qualifying Round The North Shore Navigators are having a Peabody West Little League Night on June The Qualifying Round for the 30th. Come on down and see the Navs take on 2017 PWLL Home Run Derby the . Each PWLL player will be Finals was held during our receiving a ticket from his/her coach good for Jamboree on May 20th. six people to attend the game for free. Be sure Check out our Web site to stay for the fireworks show after the game!!! (www.pwll.net) for a com- plete list of qualifiers moving on to the final round, scheduled to be held during New Score Board our end of season BBQ on for Major’s Field Saturday, June 24th.

Our Majors Field received a new scoreboard thanks to the generous donations of Luso - American Credit Union (www.luso- american.com) & Universal Screening Studio (www.universalscreeningstudio.com). Please support these sponsors who support PWLL.

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Play Ball….2017 COACHES CLINIC Season is Underway HITS A HOME RUN

Despite a Spring that felt more like PWLL would like to thank Steve Lomasney Winter, our season is in full swing. and The Show Baseball & Softball Acade- Although our Opening Day Jamboree my (www.showbaseballacademy.com) for was postponed due to bad weather, the season started on time, only to be running a FREE coaches clinic for PWLL interrupted by a series of rainouts. coaches back in March. The clinic was The Scheduler and Division Coordi- well attended and our coaches left with nators are doing a great job keeping expert practice material and advice from up with rescheduling those games. In Steve that is age specific to little league. the first half of the season, our It’s great to see all the off-season prepara- Majors and AAA teams played inter- league games against teams from tion by our dedicated coaches paying off Peabody Little League (PLL), playing this season. If you missed this years home games at our fields at Lt. Ross coaches clinic, be on the lookout for the Park and away games at PLL fields one next year. located at MacArthur Park and James Street. Our AA Division teams are playing some competitive games with lots of smiling faces all around. The CP/A and T-Ball Divisions are contin- Junior Umpires uing the great PWLL tradition of focusing on developing baseball PWLL has some of the best Junior Umpires on players at a young age through a the North Shore. Many of these Junior Umps combination of clinic/practice and played little league baseball at PWLL and games. Judging from the players at have come back to be Junior Umpires — they all divisions this year, PWLL’s future looks great!!! are our kids. Please remember our Junior Umps are just teenagers and are doing their best. Support them out there and please do not argue their calls or yell at them. Thank you!!!

PWLL coach Rafael Casiano is collecting gently used youth baseball equipment that will be sent to the Dominican Republic for use by underprivileged children there. Coach Casiano will make sure all donated equipment gets into the hands of deserving young players. Please contact Coach Casiano via e-mail at: [email protected] or via text at: (617) 308-8495 if you have baseball equipment you’d like to donate. Thank you!!!

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Did You Know? Coaches Corner

Only two players have appeared in the Hydration --- Staying hydrated is important all Little League World Series, College year long, but is especially important during the World Series and Major League Base- warm and humid months of our baseball season. ball World Series: Ed Vos- Little League® has some great information on its berg (Tucson, Arizona, 1973; Universi- Web site about the importance of making sure little ty of Arizona, 1980; Florida Marlins, league baseball players are staying hydrated. See: 1997) and (Altamonte http://www.littleleague.org/learn/newsletters/ Springs, Florida, 1984; Georgia Tech, ParentConnection/2014/TPCjun14/hydration.htm 1994; , 2004 and 2007) According to the above mentioned article, “….as little as a 2% dehydration (2% drop in body weight through fluid loss) is associated with impaired per- Future major leaguers Gary Shef- formance during stop-and-go sports, such as field and Derek Bell played for the baseball and softball. Performance measures such Tampa, Florida, team that reached the as skill, agility, and running have been found to be LLWS final in 1980. Bell also compet- adversely affected and athletes also have in- ed on the Tampa team that returned to creased feelings of fatigue as they accrue a body the championship game the following water deficit. The negative effects of dehydration year. on performance are most apparent when athletes are exercising in hot and humid conditions.”

Chris Drury, who pitched Trumbull, Please make sure our players are staying Connecticut, to the 1989 LLWS cham- hydrated!!! pionship, went on to win the 1998 Hobey Baker Award as the nation's top college hockey player and won the 2001 Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche.

 Second Day of Canning Fundraising - June 3rd

 End of Year BBQ, Raffle, and Home Run Derby Finals - June 24th

 Field Preparations for District 16 Tournament Games - end of June

 PWLL Night at N.S. Navigators - June 30th

 PWLL hosting District 16 Tournament Games - June/July

 Fall Ball Registration - July 4 Sponsor Section

PWLL would like to thank our generous sponsors for the 2017 Season. Please support the businesses that support PWLL!!! For contact information of our sponsors, visit www.pwll.net.

Atlantic Home Improvement Jade Restaurant Peabody Police Chick-fil-A John C. Olimpio, Esq. Red Sox Foundation Cora Operations, Inc. Luso-American Credit Union Rosewood Nursing Facility DeBiasi & Nash, LLC Madison Painting Rte 1 Sportsplex Dick's Sporting Goods MZL Dental Salem Five Direct Fuel Napa Auto Parts Show Baseball East Boston Savings Bank NEATCO Sonny’s Glass Tinting Eastern Land Survey New England Sports Photo Stocker Oil Everett Bank North Shore Bank Texas Road House The Law Office of Keith Fabbo Fence North Shore Navigators Slattery Giovanni's Roast Beef & Pizza Pavlo Orthodontics Thriftco Printing Herb Chambers of Lynnfield Peabody Fire Universal Screening

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Pictures from the May 20, 2017 Jamboree

Bagpiper and Honor Guard with new American Flag New American Flag proudly flying over AAA Field

Mayor Ted Bettencourt addresses the crowd Shirley Howard, Lt. Ross’ sister says a few words

For more pictures from our Jamboree, visit PWLL’s Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/PeabodyWesternLL 6